Day 21: Hua Hin to Bangkok, Friday 28th June 2024
FIne/cloudy, 34°
NZ$1 = THB22
THB1 = NZ$0.04
Up at 7:30am, breakfast in our room again at 8am. We packed our bags etc and left at 8:45am; got a Grab to the bus station at south end of town (THB97/$4.50 ), arr at 8:55am. This doesn’t seem to be a bus terminal for all of Hua Hin but rather a depot for the Sankat bus company, with a ticket office, toilets and a waiting area in a non-airconditioned buidling. Got our tickets from the counter ( that we had already booked and paid for through Bookway/12Go Asia , $17 ea ), and we were given a choice; the bus today ( for some reason ) was stopping at the bus depot where we got on the bus a few days ago ( ie miles from the centre of town ) but would then carry on into a more central location at a the Mo Chit BTS station so we could get off there instead. We opted for the Mo Chit dropoff as we could get a BTS direct to our hotel location at Asok Station, and avoid the Bangkok traffic.
We waited in the waiting room and our bus pulled in at 9:15am, we jumped on and left at 9:30am ( about 15 people on the bus today ).
It was a nice ride back to Bangkok, and seemed to take less time that the trip south, and we somehow managed run early so we were at Mo Chit at 1:05pm ( the bus was supposed to arrive at the bus terminal at 1:30pm but we went through there at 12:30pm ).
We jumped off the bus, grabbed our bags and up the escalators to the BTS, bought tickets ( the ticket machine didn’t like our money so we joined the queue for a ticket window ) for THB94/$4 for 2, and up to the platform and onto the train. We got off at Asok ( 1 stop along from our last hotels BTS station of Nana ) at 1:45pm and walked up to our hotel ( this was a bit of a struggle with the lack of footpaths on the route etc and the need to walk down Soi Cowboy, a notorious nightspot / gogo bar area ). We arrived at our hotel ( Taipan ) at 1:55pm.
Checked in ( $100 for 1 night, breakfast included ) and up to our room ( Room 1501, the third 15th floor room we have had on this trip so far ). A nice large room, with a view south into other buildings. The street this hotel is on in in the same general area as our last one but is a lot less touristy , but as per usual there are a couple of Irish Bars around.
We dropped our stuff and headed out to Terminal 21 Mall for ‘lunch’ at 2:15pm. Up to the 4th floor and grabed food at Svensons ( a dessert restaurant ) ; lunch consisted of 2 milk toast sundaes and 2 drinks: THB600/$30.
Wandered back down through the mall and back to the hotel at 4pm via a 7Eleven.
Rested for a bit.
Out at 6:30pm, walked to Terminal 21 and back to the foodcourt on the 5th floor ( 3rd visit ), added some money to our card and bought 2 dishes and drinks for THB150/$7.
Back to the hotel at 8pm for our last night of 6 in Bangkok for this trip. We will pass back through Bangkok on our way from Siem Reap to Singapore, but we will only see the airport on that visit.
Bangkok has grown on us over the visits we have made; it seems to be about finding the right area to stay that has the right blend of tourist stuff vs local stuff for your tastes. And while it is a busy place with lots of people and noise, there is still a feeling of safety and organisation to it.